First—why do you so readily accept the existence of the subconscious mind?
“To say we don’t know the ‘mechanism’ of life is to say we haven’t found it yet...It is this kind of Straw Man Fallacy that I find particularly annoying.”
Here’s something you can know: to say we don’t know the mechanism, the substance or the essence of life is an assertion which is logically consistent with the proposition that life is not reducible to material phenomena.
Logically consistent.
Perhaps this fact is what annoys you, my friend. If so, I hope you will be inspired to confront the annoyance directly.
I have extensively studied the subject of psychology, for starters. Second, have you ever been talking to someone when you wanted a particular word, or maybe someone's name, and cannot recall it but then do recall it two hours later.
Where was that knowledge? Clearly in your mind but not available to your conscious mind.
Extensive training in the martial arts teaches one that there is a form of knowledge that operates far too quickly for the conscious mind but is known by the mind nonetheless. What mind possesses this knowledge?
Finally, from whence come dreams?
Here’s something you can know: to say we don’t know the mechanism, the substance or the essence of life is an assertion which is logically consistent with the proposition that life is not reducible to material phenomena.
Your proposition that life is not reducible to material phenomena is not capable of verification, therefore it is irrelevant. You are arguing for the validity of a proposition on the basis of long standing, well known fallacy. You can't prove a negative, friend. That's what I find annoying.